NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Jaguar Land Rover. Automotive News is reporting that Jaguar Land Rover will not have a display at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. “Following a review of our global consumer engagement program, the decision has been made not to exhibit at the Detroit show in 2016,” Stuart Schorr, Jaguar Land Rover North America vice president of communications and public affairs (aka JRL's Chief PR minion) said in a statement. “We recognize that the Detroit show is a world-class Tier 1 auto show, however, we have had to make this decision to sharpen our focus as indicated.” Instead, the company will appear at auto shows in Los Angeles (where they just appeared), New York, Geneva, Frankfurt/Paris and Beijing/Shanghai, according to Schorr. Editor-In-Chief's Note: I actually applaud Jaguar Land Rover for this decision, though it couldn't have been an easy one. The Detroit Auto Show is hugely important and there is intense peer pressure among the manufacturers to not only show up, but to present a good showing, because you just can't "phone it in" here. The reality, however, is that the Detroit Auto Show show is no longer the be-all and end-all auto show in the grand scheme of things, especially for an import luxury manufacturer like Jaguar Land Rover. That this retail market isn't all that important for Jaguar Land Rover also factored heavily into the company's decision. So given all of that, they made the right call. -PMD

(BMW images)
This is BMW's vision of a new vehicle for the compact segment, aka the future 1-Series sedan. BMW unveiled it at Auto Guangzhou 2015 in China. “The BMW Concept Compact Sedan reveals the potential we see in a compact sedan,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “It not only gives the driver and passengers generous amounts of space within a compact area but does so while providing the sporting ability you’d expect from BMW and an elegance otherwise only available in large BMW sedans. The quality and intrinsic value of the BMW Concept Compact Sedan are clear signals of our premium intentions for the car.” Well alrighty then...

Check out the latest episode of The Autoextremist on AutoextremistTV below. -WG